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Most of issues resolved with Turkey in reconciliation talks: Israeli minister

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Thursday that Israel and Turkey are "90 percent" on their way to reach a reconciliation deal, nearly six years after deadly raid strained relations.

In an interview to the local Israeli radio station, Steinitz said that he estimates that "90 percent" of the issues are resolved with Turkey, signaling a final deal may come about in the upcoming weeks.

"I would say that we have successfully finished dealing with 90 percent of the topics on the agenda," Steinitz told the radio station on Thursday morning.

The topics in the agenda of the negotiations include compensation for the families of the Turkish victims, Turkey backing from its threat to persecute Israeli soldiers, Turkey's demand to remove the blockade from Gaza and to curb the operation of the Hamas Palestinian militant organization in Turkey.

The Channel 10 news reported on Wednseday that according to the understandings reached, Ankara would monitor the operation of the Palestinian Hamas organization in Turkey and act to thwart any attempt to carry out terror attacks against Israel.

The sides are also negotiating setting up a Turkish pipeline to supply natural gas from Israel to Europe.

"I think there's a great common interest to both us and Turkey that divides into two, a strategic interest and an energetic-financial interest, and for the sake of both it's time to reconcile after five years after partial disconnect," Steinitz said.

The minister also revealed he had met with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan two months ago in Washington D.C., describing the meeting as "very positive."

Steinitz had served in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's past governments as the intelligence minister and the strategic affairs minister, and is considered to be his close associate.

Relations between Israel and Turkey broke apart after the May 2010 raid by the Israeli Navy on a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip Palestinian enclave in demand to remove the Israeli blockade. Ten Turkish nationals were killed in the clashes.

Three years after the 2010 incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Erdogan and apologized for the incident, at the behest of U.S. President Barack Obama who visited Israel at the time.

Since then talks have been ongoing on and off for the past several years, appearing to gaining speed in the past several months, under the guidance of the Foreign Ministry's Director General Dore Gold.

The Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas since 2007, and is under blockade by both Israel and Egypt. According to Channel 10, Turkey had backed down on its demand to remove the siege from the enclave.

Israel and Hamas fought several deadly rounds of fighting in the past decade, resulting in thousands of casualties and massive destruction to structures in the enclave. Endit